Unintentional Truth
by Dreamicide
Summary: Hinata started reading the details of her mission, but stopped as a chill over her chest formed. Her eyes widened and her breath became still. "I…I have to…seduce Neji-niisan?" she breathed. — NejiHina
1. New Assignment

**Authors Notes:** A new NejiHina story I plan to last about three or four chapters. I don't own Naruto.

**Warning:** PLOT

* * *

**Unintentional Truth**

No training today. Instead, a quiet afternoon sitting on the exposed hallways of the Hyūga compound. Just the two of them together, chatting about whatever they felt like. It was not abnormal; this was how Neji and Hinata always spent their Saturday afternoons. It was one of the few ways they were slowly putting the pieces of their broken relationship back together.

"I felt so bad for him…but at the same time, seeing Akamaru kicking around on the dirt almost made it look like he was having a tantrum, and it was so funny." Hinata slightly laughed as she told Neji of the dog accidentally eating poisonous berries some months ago. "He's okay now, though…"

The corners of Neji's mouth twitched. "Well, that's good to hear." To be honest, he did not really care at all. But even so, he felt content just sitting on the porch and relaxing. Both he and Hinata were valuing this downtime to the fullest, because for the past few weeks there was no time for relaxation or laughing.

Several weeks ago, Hyūga Hiashi died. It was not exactly sudden, he was old, and had been struggling with a heart disease for some time before. Even so, it just hit Hinata and Hanabi incredibly hard. Both of the sisters would stay in their rooms all day long, only leaving for meals and using the bathroom. Hanabi recovered the initial shock quicker than her sister, but only recently did Hinata finally leave her room. Now here she was, chatting with Neji. Right now Neji was listening to Hinata talk fervently for the first time in weeks, although they both were avoiding talking about her late father.

Hinata sighed. "It feels like it's been years since I've seen them last…or anyone, for that matter…" she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out after a few still seconds. "I'll be able to see them soon enough, but…not Father…" her words hung in the air.

It was the first Neji's heard Hinata mention Hiashi ever since his passing, and Neji was not quite sure how to deal with it. He could tell she was not over it. Hell, she'll most likely _never_ get over it. But Neji never was good at comforting people, and he did not really know the best way to continue the conversation. After a few seconds, Neji figured that it would be best to just not say anything to her at this point. So there they sat, on the edge of the wooden hallways overlooking the courtyard. Neither one of them saying a word.

Neither Neji nor Hinata could tell if the silence was relaxing, or uncomfortable. It felt lukewarm, and they did not know if they really wanted to get up and leave or continue to sit. It was an incredibly awkward and confusing silence.

Suddenly the silence was broken by a sharp voice. "Hinata-sama!"

Hinata jumped and turned to see who had called her. It was Shouri, one of the newly appointed Hyūga elders. He had not been an official elder for long, but his authority had already been made known across the family. Because of this, Hinata had to treat him with utmost respect.

"Oh…good afternoon, Shouri-sama." She pushed herself off the wooden floors and stood up straight. She hesitated before asking, "Is something the matter?"

The old man shook his head, "It is not urgent, but the other elders and I would like to request an audience with you, if you please. It will not take very long." He waved his hand toward her.

Hinata's gaze fell down to her hands, wondering if it was going to be about her future as Head of the Hyūga. She still had about six months until she would turn eighteen, so Hinata's best guess was that the elders would be assigning someone close and trustworthy as the temporary Head until that time. The thing was, Hinata could not think of anybody that would be suitable for the job. For a while she thought it would have been Neji because of his intellect and the fact that he's already of age, but the sad truth of his being in the Branch House prevented any of that from happening. It will probably be a smart young man who would take over. _But then…_Hinata's eyes fell down even lower, _Everyone will almost certainly favor him as the Head instead of me…and will be reluctant to have me replace him_.

"Is something wrong, Hinata-sama? You look ill." Shouri's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Hinata's eyes widened slightly and she looked back up before giving a faint smile. "No…not at all." Her smile faded away as she glanced back at Neji. Hinata felt a little bad for ending their conversation on such a depressing note, but at the same time she was relieved that they wouldn't have to continue, at least not today.

Shouri nodded before acknowledging Neji. "I apologize for interrupting your down-time with Hinata-sama. She will be right back in a few minutes."

Neji only grunted. To be honest, deep down he was slightly glad that the old man had come for Hinata when he did. Neji felt that he was about to go crazy from all the awkward silences.

When the two Hyūgas finally left, Neji let out a long sigh and rested his head on one of his hands. Other than talking to Hinata, there really was not much else to do today. He did not have anything planned for the next few days, so to him it looked like it was going to get rather boring around here. For a second, Neji contemplated on visiting his teammates. He quickly shut the inner offer down. _No way in hell_. Neji was never in the mood for visiting those people. Sighing once again, Neji started to gaze over to the side of the courtyard directly opposite of him. He noted another Hyūga elder walking over the yard, but did not think anything about it. At least not until the old man called his name.

"Neji-kun!"

Neji snapped out of his zoning out and looked back at the old man. This time it was Hitoru, another new addition to the Hyūga elders. The old man did not bother walking all the way to Neji, instead making a hand motion telling Neji to come.

"Some elders and I would like to speak with you, it is extremely important." Hitoru's voice was hoarse, as if he had been screaming all his life.

This time Neji had absolutely no idea what he was being summoned for. He had guessed Hinata was called for her future, but weren't all the elders going to discuss that with her? So why was Neji here getting ready to speak with some others? _Only way to find out is to follow him_. Neji nodded in response to Hitoru before pushing himself off the floor. He met Hitoru halfway across the courtyard and they both began walking the opposite way together.

* * *

Shouri led Hinata down an old hallway that had obviously not been used in a few years. The walls were peeling and the carpeting was stained with old spills and greases. As they continued moving forward, Hinata's confusion only grew more and more. _Why am I…being led down here, and not the normal elder meeting room? This is…really making me feel unnerved. _Hinata looked over her shoulder toward Shouri. "Um, are we going the right way?"

Shouri nodded, "Circumstances have forced us to meet here today, Hinata-sama. There is nothing to worry about." He assured, giving her a smile.

Hinata's puzzlement only grew worse. _What circumstances?_

The two walked down the hallway for a few more minutes until they reached an old doorway, and Shouri gestured her in. "We are not meeting with every single elder, so this really will not take long." He guaranteed before motioning her to go inside.

Hinata barely had anytime to contemplate on why she was not meeting with all of the elders, before about ten different elders in a small room greeted her at once. "Good day, Hinata-sama." They all said.

"Ah…uh…" Hinata looked around nervously, wanting to ask what was going on.

The elder sitting directly in front of her smiled, "I can understand your confusion, but you can trust that nothing suspicious is going on." He motioned his hand over to an empty chair in the middle of the room, and Hinata looked at it, reluctant to sit. The man chuckled, "It will not bite you." And Hinata nodded before sitting in it, hesitantly.

Hinata's gaze dropped to her hands resting in her lap. She thought that this meeting was about assigning someone as temporary head until she turned eighteen. All of this just seemed way too strange, and everything was making her feel uncomfortable. Hinata glanced at all of the elder members that were sitting before looking up to the one in front of her, Hon. Hinata was too bewildered at the whole situation to notice that all of the advisors attending had been added to the elder council in the last three years.

Hon smiled at her before pulling out a scroll from the inside of his sleeve. "This must be extremely confusing to you, but you are being assigned a private mission by the entire elder council." Hon leaned over with the scroll in his hand, and Hinata reached up and took it from him. She unwrapped the string around the center and began to unravel it.

Hon gave a slight cough. "It may be a rather difficult, and confusing, mission to pull off. But we will explain everything to you as soon as you read the contents."

Hinata gave a small nod before completely unwinding the scroll to be shown in its entirety. She started reading the details of her mission, but stopped as a chill over her chest formed. Her eyes widened and her breath became still.

"I…I have to…_seduce Neji-niisan?_" she breathed.

* * *

"Just to let you know, you are being assigned a strictly private mission that is confidential to the Hyūga Clan, no one anywhere else in Konoha is taking part in it." Hitoru explained. The two were walking down the hallways leading to various meeting rooms.

Neji turned his head to look at Hitoru. "May I ask exactly who is assigning me this mission?"

"The Hyūga Elder Council." Hitoru replied.

Neji's eyebrows curved downward. "The whole council? Because Hinata just left with one of the members a few minutes ago."

"Enough members to concern _you_, Neji-kun." He gave Neji a quick glare. "That will be enough questions, now."

Neji had wanted to ask more, but he held his tongue. In the next minute or two, he'll find out anyway.

Hitoru stopped before a door to the very last meeting room, and turned to Neji. "In here," Was all he said before opening the door and entering first. Neji followed.

There were only a few council members present, sitting on their knees over pillows. Unlike Hinata, Neji did notice that the members were recently added, although he did not give much concern over it. Giving a private mission to a Branch member would most likely not attract any veteran members, anyway. Neji sat down on the pillow in the center of the room, waiting for his assignment.

The old man sitting right in front of him handed Neji an envelope, and Neji took it from his hand. The elder's expression remained cold and hard, as did all of the other members. _They don't seem to be pleased with giving me this mission_…Neji mused before opening the envelope. He pulled out a sheet of paper and began to skim it.

When he finished reading, Neji looked up at the old man with a glare in his eyes. "What is the meaning of this…?"

"Exactly what you think." The man, Ban, replied. "You're mission is to seduce and gather information from Hinata-sama."

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Notes:** Psh, the chapter should have been something like this!...

One day Hinata and Neji were sitting when Hinata said "You wanna make out?" and Neji was like "YOU BET YOUR ASS I DO." but before they could some old cracka came and was like "Dude, Hinata, we gotta tell you something." so Hinata left with him. So then Neji was sitting, being all "I'M BORED. I WISH HINATA WOULD COME BACK ALREADY SO WE COULD DO IT OR SOMETHING LIKE A NEJIHINA FANFICTION SHOULD BE." when some other old cracka dude came and was like "HEY come here." so Neji left with him and a bunch of old crusty men were like "Hey Neji you have to get it on with Hinata it is important for the NejiHina." and Neji was all "HOT DIGGITY DAMN I LOVE THIS FAMILY." **To be continued...**

**Edit:** Bahahaha!! Did you notice my mistake? I accidentally started replacing Hitoru's name with Hiruto halfway through the story for some reason. See how big of an idiot I am? Well, I fixed it all now (hopefully, if you notice any more please let me know).


	2. Explanation

**Notes:** Mk. Second chapter. I don't own crap. An accurate summary can be found below.

**Warning:** PLOT

* * *

**Explanation**

Hinata reread the mission twice. Three times. She reread the words "seduce" and "Neji" so many times her head hurt, but still…

"I…don't understand." Hinata finally whispered.

The elders all looked at Hon, unsure of what to say. He only chuckled, "Hinata-sama, this is not something new to you. According to our knowledge, you have completed two other missions that you had to seduce someone to succeed, right?"

The scroll in Hinata's fingers slightly crinkled. Her gaze dropped, as she thought about it. _Technically, yes…but I was simply distracting guards…so that my teammates could slip by…I didn't do anything like this mission is asking me to do! _Hinata shook her head. "I'm afraid that I don't have adequate experience."

Hon scratched his chin. "Don't misunderstand us, Hinata-sama, we're not asking you do anything inappropriate with Neji-kun," Hinata began blushing as the mental images started kicking in, "I'll explain exactly _why_ you're being asked to do this right now."

Hinata shifted in her chair, and patiently waited for Hon to begin. He seemed almost hesitant to begin…_Oh, what are the elders going to tell me to do…?_

"Well, I'll try to summarize as best as I can… Back when your father and Hizashi Hyūga were a-…_young_," it was obvious that Hon almost said 'alive,' "They were extremely close as children. They were brothers before members of the Main and Branch House. And as children they had naïve ideals like every other child has. Ideals such as the belief that everyone can be saved, Good will always conquer Evil with no consequences, things like that."

Hinata nodded her head, remembering how she and Neji would play games like that when they were much smaller. Even so, she did not understand where Hon was going with this…

"As naïve as they were together, they were still intelligent. Borderline genius. It was almost like having two Neji twins," Hon chuckled before continuing, "And you know as much as anybody about Neji creating his own jutsu. So if you can only imagine two Neji's creating jutsu together, it would be quite remarkable. That is basically what Hiashi-sama and Hizashi-kun were. Back in their youth, they created unique jutsu that not even the Hokage or ANBU had ever begun to conceive, let alone perform. Hiashi-sama and Hizashi-kun collected these jutsu and placed all of the secrets and directions into two separate scrolls, one for each of them. Right now we need to confiscate Hizashi-kun's, which we can only imagine has been left in Neji's possession. This is where you come in. The 'seducing' is merely convincing Neji to give you his father's documents, and you may use whatever method you wish. Sweet-talk him, look through his things, it is up to you. At the moment, the elders are in no hurry to obtain it, but we would preferably have it in our hands sometime before your birthday." Hon glimpsed over at Hinata. "That is all for my explanation, now do you have any questions?"

Hinata looked up at Hon before taking her gaze back down to her lap. She did have a question that had been itching her mind the most, "Why me…?"

"Hmm," he mused, "I am afraid I can't tell you that now. But once you turn eighteen, your authority as the Head will surpass over ours as Elders. If you still desire to know when the time comes, ask us again and we will be obligated to tell you. That will be all, you may now go back to your day."

Hinata nodded before standing up and bowing to Hon and the other advisors. She pivoted on the tip of her toes and walked out of the room, with Shouri closing the door behind her.

Once Hinata left, Hon's calming smile dropped. His expression became weary, and before turning to the other elders, he murmured; "Now we just have to wait for Ban to finish up with Neji-kun."

* * *

"…I don't understand." came Neji's reply.

Ban's response was an exasperated sigh. "I believe I just told you—seduce Hinata-sama."

Because of his position as Branch member to the Elders, if Neji were to make a rude remark then he would be strictly punished. And since everybody in the room seemed extremely impatient and irate, Neji doubted that they would simply slap his wrists and be done. So he suppressed his desire to just ask 'And what I _don't_ understand is _why_,' instead saying calmly, "Might I inquire the reason why?"

Ban growled and began to run his temples with the tips of his fingers. "I'll make it short—there's a scroll Hiashi-sama left behind after he died, and we can only guess that it is now in Hinata's care. You've seduced quite a few girls for missions, there's nothing different. Lead her into a false sense of security and either steal the scroll, or have her give it to you formally."

Neji gave it some thought, and nodded. To be honest, it really was not the same as what Neji had previously gone through. The girls he's 'seduced' were easily smitten by sweet words. All Neji had to do was lean over, whisper about how beautiful they are, and they practically melt in his hands. This was different because it was _Hinata_. Neji cannot just walk up to her, say, "You are as beautiful as a jewel," and expect her to just hand over the scroll to him. No, Neji was sure that Hinata would instead just blush and stutter, "Umm…uh…umm…" And he wouldn't get anywhere with that.

"Keep the envelope and feel free to look over your mission details whenever you want. We will be giving you about six months to complete this. If you don't succeed, there will be consequences." Ban barked. "Now leave."

"Mm." Neji grunted in response before pushing himself off the pillow. He gave one last glance at Ban and the other elders before turning around and leaving.

* * *

After leaving the old crumbling-down room, Hinata was walking down the hallways, absentmindedly leading herself to where she was previously talking with Neji. The mission scroll lay tucked away in her coat pocket, and feeling the weight of it only depressed her, thinking about what she had to do. _It feels like, in a way…I am betraying Neji-niisan…_

At the same time, Neji was walking down the path to the same spot. He made a pit stop by his room to quickly throw the envelope over onto his desk, before continuing on.

The two saw each other at their hallway, and an incredibly awkward silence grew.

"Oh…Hello, Neji-niisan." Hinata's glance fell to the floor, and she tried to hide her face behind her long bags.

"Hello." Neji replied. He reached up and began rubbing the back of his neck, completely unsure of what to do next. _The elders told me to seduce Hinata-sama…but she's not the same as other girls. This will defiantly not be easy…_After a moment of thinking; Neji thought that the best thing for him to do would be to confess a fake love to her. Hinata will undoubtedly be flabbergasted and probably not respond, but it was better than trying to actually seduce her by traditional means.

"Hinata-sama…" once he began to try and form the words, his throat backed up with nothingness. _Do I have any idea on what I am about to make myself do? Sigh, this is going to be challenging and gauche. _

Hinata had been zoning out trying to think of what she should do to…_seduce_ Neji, but him murmuring her name aloud brought her back down to Earth. She looked up at Neji and blinked a few times. "Oh, uh…yes?"

"I…" Neji stiffened up. _This is harder that I thought. It would not be so difficult if it were some strange girl I have never met, but it's _Hinata_…_ "There's something that…I would like to tell you." Even though it was a fake love confession, it felt humiliating. Neji Hyūga, the genius of the clan, the one whose name brings fear to little genin…confessing to a small, meek, and shy girl standing before him. It was nearly _degrading_.

"I love you, Hinata-sama." He practically spat the words out of his mouth. _God, just give me the damn scroll, save some trouble for the both of us._

Hinata blinked. "Ah…" her eyes widened and her eyebrows curved upward. _Ne…Neji-niisan is_ in love_ with me? How is this…? I never noticed…! _

Now Hinata was completely unsure of what to do next. Neji just proclaimed his love for her before she even had the chance to try to charm him! Not that she was looking forward to seducing him in the first place.

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to tell Neji that she also loves him…? That way, it would probably be much easier to obtain the scroll from him. It will be extremely embarrassing; to confess a faux love to Neji, _when Neji-niisan _truly_ feels this way about me…_Hinata's cheeks began to burn. She was not sure that she would be able to get the words out of her mouth.

"Th…the truth is, Neji-niisan…" her heart began beating faster, and her blush deepened. This whole situation, it's just not right! Hinata always imagined that it would be Naruto that she would be having this conversation with, not Neji! Finally, Hinata whispered the words so quietly that she could barely hear herself.

"I…love you, too…"

Quiet as it was, Neji still heard it. And boy, did it catch him by surprise.

This time it was his turn to widen his eyes. His mouth hung slightly agape, as thoughts began rushing in his head. _Wait, Hinata-sama is _really_ in love with _me_? She is supposed to be infatuated with Naruto, isn't she? How long has she felt this way…about _me_? She always acted nervous around Naruto; everybody simply assumed that it was because she was taken with him. I could never have figured that Hinata-sama was really…in _love_ with me. _

Hinata began fidgeting her fingers when Neji did not respond and just stood there with his mouth slightly open. "Um, is something wrong…Neji-niisan?"

Neji blinked and remembered that he probably was supposed to feel happy because he was also supposedly in love with Hinata. "Ah, no, nothing. I…was just wondering exactly how long you have felt this way about me." It was a true question—he was curious.

"…Oh." As if things could not get any more awkward. To answer honestly, Hinata would say 'Never,' but that would just complicate the mission even more than it already has become. Instead, she took a deep breath before softly uttering, "Since we…were little."

At first Neji did not think much of it, but then the Chūnin Preliminaries rushed back into his memory. His eyes widened slightly as he thought, _I nearly killed her. I may as well have, at that moment I really did hate her…but here she is, confessing to me _now_. Is she saying that she continued feeling this way about me even through all of that? She remained faithful to the one who tried killing her… _He closed his eyes and frowned. _What a unique way to make someone feel guilty. _

"And, um…you, Neji-niisan?" Hinata's head was tilted down but she raised her eyes upward to look at him. She was curious, as well. After all, Hinata knew that she and Neji were repairing their broken relationship, but she had no idea that he would actually _fall_ for her. It almost seemed…out of character for him. No, it _really_ seemed out of character for Neji.

Neji opened his eyes and said, "Recently. Not for a long time." Saying that he also loved her for a long time would have been suspicious since he had attempted to murder her along the way. "A couple of months."

Hinata slowly nodded. "I see…"

The two began shifting their weight from foot to foot, unsure of what to do now that they've initially started the mission. They were also wondering why it wasn't a very happy occasion, normally when people discover that they love one another, it is a happier occasion. But here, it was just uncomfortable.

Luckily, at that moment another Hyūga Main House member came running up to them and reminded Hinata of her monthly checkup. Hinata thanked the member and turned to leave, taking once last glance at Neji.

_I…I think I made a big mistake, telling him such a lie…_

And left Neji to stand in the hallway, contemplating on what the hell he just got himself into.

* * *

Some hours later in the night, Ban and the other Elders that spoke with Neji were shuffling down the old crusted-over hallways, the only sounds heard was the ruffling of their clothes.

They all came upon an old doorway with the surrounding wallpaper peeling. Ban did not wait a moment to knock and entered in without saying a word.

Inside Hon and the others were obviously waiting for Ban. They gestured him to sit down, but Ban kept his stance.

"I still do not agree with this plan." He hissed.

Hon only chuckled and took a sip of his lemon tea. "I fail to see why you are so hesitant, Ban-sama."

"You most defiantly know why," Ban snapped, "It is because I don't think it will work! Neji and Hinata are not stupid; they'll figure out that something is up almost right away. The two of them suddenly trying to seduce each other? Even a blind man would be able to tell something's wrong with that."

"But," Hon said, "You fail to understand that if—and when—the plan succeeds, we, the new Elders, will be killing two birds with one stone. Assigning Neji and Hinata this mission will do wonders for the plan. The first bird to kill is the scroll issue. By the law as it stands, we cannot confiscate the two scrolls by force. We could try persuading Neji and Hinata to give the scrolls to us by ourselves—but do you honestly think that would work? They cannot possibly trust us that much, for we have not been in the Elder group for that long. But Neji and Hinata _do_ trust _each other_. If they hand over the scroll over to one another—and then they give the scroll to _us_—then there you have it! The secret techniques of the Hyūga Twins, ours to use as we please. Which—if we're still on the same chord—we will use when we take over the entire Hyūga Clan…in a coup d'état!"

All of the young Elders began murmuring in approval, nodding and patting each other's backs.

"…And the other bird?" Ban demanded.

"The other bird," Hon's smile stretched all the way across his face, "are Neji and Hinata themselves. You think they will do nothing as we take over their whole family of old wasted men? No, they'd most certainly fight back, which is the other problem. Because at the very least, Neji is too strong of an opponent. We want to limit the casualties to a minimum during the coup, which is why when I assign Neji and Hinata their revised missions…"

Ban leaned his head closer, automatically understanding what Hon meant to do.

"…_I will have Neji and Hinata kill each other_."

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Notes:** The chapter should have been like THIS.

So when Hinata was like, "What? Why do I gotta seduce Neji big bwother?" the Hyuga Crackas were like "BECAUSE THIS IS A NEJIHINA STORY DAMMIT GET WITH THE PROGRAM" and suddenly Neji appeared and was like "OH HINATA I LOVE YOU PLZ MAKE NEJIHINA LUV WITH ME RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW" and Hinata was just about to say "OH YEAH BABEH" when suddenly some insignificant Hyuga dude came and was liek "Ah we gotta check you up lolz" which totally ruined the NejiHina moment. So Neji stood there waiting for Hinata to come back so they could make some NejiHina loev while the Hyuga Crackaz had a meeting on how to make more people fall in love with NejiHina. **To be continued...**


	3. New Mission

**Notes:** Sorry for the delay, folks. And I can't write about backgrounds and surroundings. I just can't do that shit. Sorry, but I just can't.

**PLOT PLOT PLOT**

* * *

**New Mission**

"Congratulations, Hinata-sama."

"…Eh?" Hinata looked up at the Hyūga doctor who was at the moment checking her pulse.

The doctor smiled at her. "Sorry, my assistant let it slip to me that he overheard you and Neji-kun admitting your love to each other. I wanted to say congratulations for loving the best man in the family, and that he reciprocated your feelings."

"Oh." Hinata closed her eyes and tried to wish her blushing away. If the doctor's aid slipped it out once already, then he had probably 'accidentally' told every other Hyūga member in the entire clan! Hinata knew this was supposed to be a private mission, so if everybody thought that Neji and she were together, would that mean she had failed? Hinata softly groaned as she thought about it and put her fingers to her forehead.

The doctor only chuckled, "If you're worried about my assistant or me telling others, do not worry about it. I told him to keep it to himself and I will keep the news confidential. We will leave it up to you two to decide when to make the special news public."

Hinata looked up at him and whispered, "Thank you."

"Well, then," the doctor resumed Hinata's checkup, "your pulse and blood pressure are just fine, your breathing rate has slightly risen since last month, but other then that, Hinata-sama, you may as well be one-hundred percent healed from your injuries back then."

_Back then. _Hinata sighed as her thoughts were once more drawn to Neji. 'Back then' as in the Chūnin Preliminaries. 'Back then' as in the time Neji almost killed her. Because of the battle between Neji and her, Hinata had to have monthly checkups to make sure her organs still functioned properly, and they would most likely continue for the rest of her life.

* * *

Hinata now stood at the door in front of her room. Still thinking about the preliminaries, she pressed her forehead against the wood of her door, closed her eyes, and whispered, "Why, Neji-niisan? Why did you fall in love with me…?"

Now that Hinata was _supposedly_ in love with Neji, she had to make a job of keeping it up. Would she have to start going on…_dates_ with him? The thought made her stomach feel upset. Before she could muse over more about it, Hinata placed her hand on the doorknob to her room and turned.

She was planning on going straight to her bed to take a long nap, but something prickled in the back of her mind that made Hinata stop in the middle of the room and look toward her closet. The Elders wanted Hizashi's scroll, which meant that Neji should have it. That was what they concluded, and that was why Hinata was assigned this mission. Even so, if Hinata could remember correctly, both Hizashi and her father made two different scrolls. According to that, would that not imply Hinata should have one, herself? Hinata put her fingers to her lips in deep thought. She did not remember her father _ever_ giving her such a thing…perhaps he gave it to Hanabi instead? Hinata knew that the scroll should not be part of her concern, but it was bothering her anyway. So she decided to go ask Hanabi about it the next day.

* * *

"A _what_, now?"

Hinata shifted her feet.

"A scroll…did father ever leave one to you?"

Hinata watched as her sister leaned her head back to gaze at the ceiling of her room. "I don't think so…was it important?" she turned to Hinata.

Hinata paused before answering, "I can only guess that it is…"

Hanabi pouted, "That's not very much help. Either way, father never left me any scrolls before he passed."

"I see…" Hinata sighed, "Well, thank you, anyway. See you later, Hanabi-chan."

"Mm. Later, nee-san." Hanabi went back to the book she was reading as Hinata stepped out of her room.

* * *

Hinata was originally planning on what to do next at that current point in time, but barely avoiding a head-on collision with Neji quickly made her forget.

"Nii-san!" She gasped as she and Neji both took a small jump backwards. "I-I'm sorry."

Neji steadied his feet and looked down to her, "No, it was my own fault." He then paused for a second.

When Hinata nodded and was just about to continue on her way, Neji stopped her, "Hinata-sama."

If Hinata had not already been shaken up, she would have jumped. She turned her head up to him and answered, "Yes…?"

"Let…let…" Neji hesitated. He frowned as his stomach tightened not unlike the way it did the previous day. Now Neji was not sure which was worse—confessing a fake love to Hinata…or asking her to a…_date_. "…Let us eat lunch together." Neji spat out as best he could without using the word 'date.' Even so, he did not have to use it in order for Hinata to understand.

And since Hinata's obligatory reaction to any and all things awkward was blushing, she did precisely that. As her face heated up like the surface of the sun, Hinata tried to think straight on what to do or say. She initially wanted to just run away and hide in her bed sheets till the end of time, but of course that was not an option.

"O…okay." Hinata's gaze dropped to the floor and she began to study her shoes.

"We can eat in the West Courtyard, in…half an hour." Neji said. Hinata only nodded in response, so Neji turned around and continued on his way. _Strange, I thought Hinata would be a little more…happy with the offer…I guess that is just how she works. Not that it matters, I need to use this time to try and find a way to obtain the scroll from her. _

* * *

Hinata always thought that when (or rather, _if_) Neji started going out with another person, he would be completely hopeless in the whole process of being a romantic, and it would just lay in the hands of his beloved to set up all the dates and atmospheres.

Turned out she was wrong.

Upon entering the West Courtyard, Hinata was greeted with a nice setup of plates and food upon a medium sized picnic blanket. Neji was sitting down with his legs crossed and his back leaning against the thick tree in the center of the courtyard. Hinata never knew if Neji had to ask advice from someone in order to arrange the little lunch, or if he simply had an innate romantic in him.

Neji also acted slightly different during the lunch. Instead of eating through a meal of awkward silences, Neji had actually begun some decent conversations with her. It felt like…actually, it was very similar to back when Neji and Hinata had down time together. Just talking about whatever entered their heads, avoiding the whole "I am in love with you" subject. Hinata preferred it this way, and for a few minutes she almost forgot about her mission.

Neji had planned on asking Hinata about her father's scroll during the date, but about ten minutes in, he killed the urge. It had been days since the last time he felt at peace like this, and he found himself enjoying it…

Wait, _enjoying_ it?

_Come on_, Neji thought to himself, _I am here to fulfill a top-secret mission, not to sit and have tea parties_.

"Well…I guess lunch is over?" Hinata softly smiled upon noticing that they finished the food.

Neji grunted, "Hm," and stood up. Hinata followed afterwards, and she began to wonder whether or not to ask him for another…date, since she was 'in love' with him and all.

"Umm…tomorrow…shall we…?"

"Again? Yes."

Hinata's heart began to beat with more velocity in her chest, and instead of thinking about her mission, Hinata felt actual _happiness_ that they were going to eat lunch together again. "Ah, I'm so glad…" For a few split moments Hinata wondered if Neji was the type to kiss on the first date, but _No_, she thought,_ Neji wouldn't do that, I am sure of it. And…that's not a bad thing. I'm not _wanting_ him to or anything. _

For the second time that day, Neji proved her wrong.

Judging by his facial expression, Hinata was not sure that even _Neji_ knew what he was doing. But before either of them knew it, his face was leaned down toward hers a few inches away. In one moment, Hinata gasped and took a step back while Neji's eyes widened, as if he was saying 'What the hell am I doing?' Many awkward moments passed, far too many for Hinata's liking, before Neji made a decision and simply pressed his lips against Hinata's forehead.

* * *

Some five hours later, Hinata was still thinking about the moment. All she saw was his neck and chin, but she could still feel the warmness of his lips against her head. Her face only grew redder every time her thoughts trailed back to him, so by this time her entire head resembled a beet.

However, when she found herself walking past Neji's room, the redness dissipated. Hinata stopped right in front of the brown wood door and began to think to herself. At this moment in time, Neji was out training with his team, and if she was correct, he would not be back for a few more hours…

…

…

This was the perfect chance!

Now, Hinata was knocked back into mission mode. By Hyūga Law, branch members are not allowed to lock their doors. All Hinata had to do was sneak in and use her Byakūgan to find her uncle's scroll, turn it in, and then she would not have to continue to pretend that she loved Neji!

…So…why did that last part depress her a little bit…?

* * *

Hinata softly opened the door so it would not creak and tiptoed in. She had never been in Neji's room ever since they were little, and it had changed so much since then that Hinata was not sure where to begin. She decided to just stand in the middle of the floor and use her Byakūgan, find the scroll and get out before any passerby had noticed. She walked toward the center of the room (taking no notice of the yellow envelope resting in Neji's chair) and clasped her hands together forming the sign.

Instantly, Hinata found several scrolls around the room, but she was looking for one place in an odd area. Under the bed, in the walls, etc. Almost instantaneously, she caught sight of a (rather large) scroll that was located above the closet in the attic ceiling. It was a good hiding place, she thought, because if she did not know of the compartment, then surely no one else did. Hinata did not give herself any more time to ponder about it before climbing up on Neji's chair (after taking the yellow envelope off and placing it on his desk) and reaching up to the ceiling. The opening was not visible at all, and she had to work her fingers around the edges before she could finally pry the compartment open. Hinata then got a good look at the scroll. It was a large cylinder but beautiful. The cover was made of cloth with assiduously woven designs circumnavigating the entire cover. Hinata gave a few moments to admire it before sliding it in her arms and tiptoeing back out of the room (making sure to put the envelope back in its place).

The first thing Hinata did after leaving Neji's room was making her way down to the old worm-out hallway as fast as she could without bringing too much attention upon herself. Thankfully, there were only a few family members out in the hallways, and they did not bother looking her way.

Hinata then found herself standing in front of the door where she first received her mission brief, and knocked on the door. A moment later, Hon's face was looking down upon her. His eyes immediately went down to the large scroll in her arms, and he gave a grin. "Ah, come in, come on in, Hinata-sama."

* * *

It was now the day after and Neji was slowly making his way down the hallways of the Hyūga nobles. Upon discovering that Hinata would be running errands for her father before their next date, Neji decided to take the chance to finally complete his mission before he had to continue this foolish charade any longer.

_Foolish, huh…_

He stopped in front of Hinata's door, and checked his surroundings to make sure no one was watching him before opening the door and making his way inside.

…

_Despite all of Hinata's efforts to change herself, her room really has not changed at all_, Neji noted. Full of light pastel colors and shelves of books and scrolls, just as it was back when they were small.

Like Hinata, Neji's plan was to use his eye technique and find it within the walls. He did so, and was able to track a large scroll beneath his feet, under a loose floorboard. As he removed the boards away, he wondered to himself if even Hinata knew about the presence herself, since the scroll had built up so much dust it looked like it had been decades since it was last handled. He did not waste any time to look at the scroll, instead scooping it in his arms, placing the boards back, and leaving the room as quickly as possible.

Also similar to Hinata, the first thing he did was make his way down to the meeting room where he expected at least one elder overseeing his mission would be. And there indeed was.

Neji did not even have a chance to knock on the door before Ban appeared in front of him, frown still locked in place. "Get in, now." He ushered Neji inside in a hurry. Ban took a step outside to look around and make sure there were no eavesdroppers before turning around and going back in, closing the door behind him.

"Sit down." Ban ordered. Neji did so in the pillow at the center of the room. There were only a few of the elders that were present the first time in the room, but Neji only paid attention to Ban as the old man handed a second envelope to Neji.

"Circumstances have changed, Neji. We are incredibly thankful that you completed the mission so soon, but I'm afraid that we have another mission to give you. You have a month to complete this, and if you do not, you will suffer dire consequences."

Neji looked over the envelope in his hand, unsure of what to expect from it. But when he could practically feel the burns of Ban's glare, Neji ruffled the paper edges of the envelope and opened it up. He took the papers in his other hand and began to skim, but he could get through the whole thing before his eyes widened and he dropped the papers on the ground. The feeling in his legs and chest became weak. "A…assa…I have to assa…"

"_Assassinate Hinata-sama_."

* * *

Some hours later the woman in question was waiting by the tree, thinking about nothing but her date with Neji. Perhaps this time they would have a bit more…contact? Instead of just sitting there talking. Hinata knew that her mission was finally over, but for some reason she had no desire to stop talking to Neji as she did. _I mean…if I suddenly confessed that I was lying to him, then our relationship will never heal…we'll never talk to each other again…I…don't want that. _

When she heard the ruffling of clothes, she turned around smiling, expecting to see Neji walking her way; instead, it was Shouri. "Ah…good afternoon, Shouri-kun…"

"Hinata-sama, I am sorry but the Hyūga elders are requesting your audience once more." Shouri gave no time for hellos and sped his way through his statement.

Hinata paused. Then, "Is…it about my last mission?"

Shouri answered, "No, but you are being assigned a new one."

Hinata turned back to look at the tree apprehensively. "But…I'm waiting for someone right now…I don't want to leave him here."

Shouri shook his head, "Neji-kun is busy, he cannot come," Hinata jumped upon realization that Shouri knew whom it was, "and now you must come with me, Hinata-sama. It is urgent."

Her glance fell down to her feet as she thought. She really did not want to leave and break her promise to meet him here, but Shouri said that he was busy. So…why was Neji breaking _his_ promise? She made a mental note to ask him later, and made her way over to Shouri and followed him back to the old hallways to hear her new mission briefing.

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Summary:** So finally Neji and Hinata has some BOW CHIKA BOW WOW time and Neji was all liek "AH HINA-CHANSAMA I FIENALLY HAEV U" and Hina-chansama was all liek "LET US GET IT ON LIKE DONKY KONG MAI LUV" but before they could AGEN some old hyuga cracka came and was liek, "OK SRSLY GAIZ WE JUST WAENT U 2 KILL EACH OTHER FOR THE LULZ" so Neji said "DAYUM" and hinata stood there and said "YOKATTA" and "IM BLUSHING RIGHT NAO" **To be continued...**

**One chapter left, guys. **


	4. Calm

**Notes:** Sorry. I lied. This is the next to last chapter.

**Edit:** I missplaced a paragraph. Just fixed it.

**I don't own shit.**

* * *

**Calm**

It had been a week since Hinata had last seen Neji. After her meeting with the Hyūga Elders, she immediately dashed to her room and locked herself in, and there she stayed. Her only company was the frequent visits from her sister to give her food.

In this present moment, Hinata lay curled into a ball upon her bed, hugging her knees tightly and staring disconsolately out the window. _Neji-niisan…_

"_We are very pleased that you retrieved the scroll from Neji within a day of issuing," Hon said, "But something has come up. So please listen to me,"_

_Hinata sat on her pillow and said nothing. _What's going on?_ She reflected, _I am supposed to be with Neji-niisan right now…

The girl squeezed her knees, trying to hold back the tears. The memory of receiving her new painful mission was too great, yet it all but consumed her every thought.

"_We did not have time to compose a scroll to give you," he continued, "But it is simple enough to understand," he then paused, as if not knowing what the best words were to say next._

_Hinata sat eagerly, and tightened the grip she had on her jacket. _

"_You're going to need to—"_

"…No!" Hinata suddenly thrashed her arms over her head and slammed her forehead against her pillow. She did not want to hear the memory say those words again; they've been taunting her with these repeats all week. She did not want to hear it in her mind again, not anymore…

"…_kill Neji-kun."_

"No…" she moaned to herself as the words once again played out in her memories, and Hinata threw her back onto the bed.

"_What…?"_ she heard her past self whisper in shock after a moment of silence.

"_This really is not easy to tell you," _Hon once again assured, as if he was really concerned for her, "_But it is something that needs to be done…and it needs to be achieved by you, Hinata-sama. Something has come up."_

"…_What…" Hinata wanted to ask in a questioning manner, but it felt like every breath was dead._

"_Well, we have the scroll of Hizashi Hyūga now, but we have reason to believe that Neji-kun has confiscated your father's scroll. The two scrolls together go hand in hand—you cannot gain anything out of just having one. That is—if you are a normal Hyūga member. Neji, however, is not. His mind is able to fit the missing pieces, and he will be able to learn deadly jutsu within minutes should he so much as look at your father's half."_

_Hinata's head finally lifted up as she heard the elder's words. But something was not making any sense, so she asked about it, "And…why is that so bad? Almost everyone in the village knows deadly jutsu…so Neji-niisan gains a few, but I don't understand why I have to…to…" her words became choked up and she could not bear finishing the sentence. _

_Hon gave her a pitiful look, "Hinata-sama, do you not remember who we are talking about? Neji Hyūga, the man who tried to kill you already. He has made his hatred for the Main House very well known in the vicinity. Before now, he has never done anything about his hatred, but," Hon leaned back in his seat and sighed, "these jutsu are able to give a Hyūga member the ability to massacre hundreds with barely any effort. These scrolls are just that dangerous. That is why we assigned you to confiscate his. There's another thing," the old man scratched his chin as he tried to remember the details, "since both Neji and your fathers were against the issuing of the curse seal mark, there is a method inscribed in the scrolls that gives details on how to make the seal become void and useless. If Neji learns of this, there would be no stopping him from leading genocide."_

Hinata sat back up on her bed and firmly pressed her palms against her ears in frustration. Seriously, how many times was she going to have to hear this conversation in her mind? She already knew everything at this point—that the Elders were not aiming for her father's scroll at the moment in time because they assumed that it was left in Hinata's care—and therefore, protected. It was only when a witness reported seeing Neji with a large scroll that the entire issue became dangerous.

The only thing Hinata did not know was why _she_ was picked.

"_Why did we select you, Hinata-sama? The same reason why all the other ninja are picked for their missions; because we feel that they are best suited for it," Hon replied to Hinata's stammering question._

_Hinata's lower lip began quivering and her heart only sank lower, "I don't understand…how I am suitable for assassinating…my cousin!" holding back the tears and keeping her breath steady were becoming harder and harder to perform._

_The Elders began to look at each other quizzically, and Hon leaned forward to Hinata. "Well, frankly, Hinata-sama…we were certain that you also held contempt for Neji-kun. After all, he did attempt to kill you once before, and he never held back in making his hatred known. Frankly, the only reason we have not had him killed already was because if he attempted anything, we would be able to rely on his curse seal to stop him."_

_Hinata lowered her head in remembrance. It was true; she could never forget the disdain that emanated from her cousin's very air as he would glare at her. Even so, those days were far long ago. Did the Elders not notice the more recent days in which Hinata and Neji would take time out of their living to relax and have quiet conversations? And also…_

"…_About your previous mission," Hon coughed into a balled fist, "we took notice that your procedure was to pretend that you love him, lead him into a false sense of security, and then have the scroll presented to you willingly, was it not? But then you were able to find the documents in such a short time span. So now you do not have to continue the charade—in fact, you are now privileged to kill the very one whom held you in such derision."_

Well, Hinata was not feeling very privileged at all.

"_But…I don't…want to…do this." Hinata softly whispered. "Because, I…um," finally, the tears broke from the barrier around her eyes and began flowing in streams down her pink tinted cheeks._

"_What?" Hon raised an eyebrow, "You don't want to? My, my, Hinata-sama, I was not expecting this outcome. Oh," his head jerked upwards and he nodded in agreement with his thoughts—whatever they were, "I see now, it is perfectly understandable…you are hesitant because it is your first assassination mission."_

_Hinata suddenly rose head up and looked into Hon's eyes, her eyebrows fiercely curved downwards. "No!" it was the first loud noise Hinata had made in minutes. "No!" she repeated herself, "That is not why! I don't want to because…because…it is _Neji-niisan!_"_

_At those words, Hon fell silent. _

"_I don't want to kill Neji-niisan," Hinata continued, her voice growing slightly stronger with every word, "I don't want _anyone_ to kill Neji-niisan, as a matter of fact. He may have the scroll, but I do not think he will kill anyone…I _know_ he will not. Because," she drew her breath in, and prepared herself to say the next words without her voice quivering, "because Neji-niisan loves me."_

…

_Once again the Elders looked at each other. Hon sighed, and turned back to Hinata._

"_Hinata-sama, your little relationship with Neji-kun…it was all a ploy to acquire his scroll, was it not? We know Neji-kun; we have known him since he was born. Believe me; he does not act like a person in love. But you, Hinata-sama," Hon shifted on his seat, "you however, are."_

…

"_I…" Hinata's cheeks began burning as she drew her hands to her chest. "I am…not in love with Neji-niisan. Nonetheless, I don't want him _dead_…"_

"_Hinata, the mission was to seduce Neji-kun. You weren't supposed to actually fall in love with him."_

"_I…I know that!" Hinata's voice rose slightly and began to waver, "I just said that I'm not!"_

"_Hinata-sama, please," Hon drew out his hand and placed it on top of Hinata's small pale fingers, "we _need_ you to complete this mission…the existence of the Hyūga family is more important than one member…you need to realize this…You are dismissed," Hon leaned back into his seat and said, "but think this over. Carefully."_

Immediately after the meeting, Hinata drew herself in her room, and now it had been a week since the dreadful day. Hinata sighed to herself as she mentally beat her head for forcing herself to recollect the painful memory.

Suddenly a soft knock was heard at the door, and a moment later her sister quietly stepped in.

"Brought you some lunch," she muttered as she carefully placed a small box at the edge of Hinata's bed. After finishing the errand, Hanabi turned around as if to leave, but then changed her mind and went to sit down next to Hinata.

"Hinata, seriously, what's wrong? You've cooped yourself up in here for a week now. I thought you already finished your immediate grieving for father? Or…" her eyes narrowed, "it's something else that's bothering you?"

Hinata looked at her sister before chuckling slightly, "Sister, you know me too well."

"Okay," the younger girl sat up before flipping her stomach over and laying down on the bed with her back toward the ceiling, making herself comfortable, "tell me all about it. I mean everything. What's going on that's making you become a hermit?"

Hinata giggled at her sister's words, but quieted at the thought of her real reason of depression. She could not tell Hanabi about it—after all, it was a secret mission. Even so, Hinata had been itching to just pour out all her troubles and worries to someone, just so they could listen and comfort her. She was feeling quite alone about it all.

At her sister's silence Hanabi sighed, "Not talking? Do you want me to guess it out of you? Okay then," She paused to think for a second. Then, "Is it…food? Like poisoning?"

Hinata shook her head.

"All right, then…your self-esteem issues have grown to such a rate that you now think your mere existence is a burden on everybody who so much glances at you?"

A giggle at first, but then another shake of the head.

"This is a tough one," Hanabi mused to herself. After thinking for a minute, scratching her chin along the way, she sat back up on her legs and gave Hinata a serious look, "It's relationship issues, isn't it."

Her question was answered with hesitant silence.

"Hinata…" the girl reached out and softly touched her sister's shoulder, "I know that's what it is. People can try to keep secrets, but really, they leak out somehow. I've heard about you and Neji…"

Hinata's heart sank lower as she heard Hanabi's words.

The younger girl turned to the window and sighed, "I guess that's also why Neji has been keeping to himself lately, too."

At this new report, Hinata sharply raised her head and her eyes widened, "Neji has not left his room either?"

"Well, not exactly…" Hanabi reached up and scratched the back of her neck, "We see him around the manor and everything, but he's not really talking to anyone anymore. He also hasn't been seeing his teammates either, I asked Tenten about it. Did…you guys have an argument, or something?" she asked quietly.

Hinata's gaze fell down to her lap as she thought to herself. No, they did not…and Hinata did think about Neji quite often since she shut herself in her room. The fact that he is in love with her, the fact that she was ordered to…kill him…but Hinata was also confused, because even though she had confined herself for the whole week, there was no word from Neji himself. The thought of him visiting her room and asking what was wrong came across her mind from time to time. However, she heard nothing of him. Hinata was not sure whether to be grateful or hurt.

"By your silence, I suppose the answer is yes?" her sister's voice brought Hinata back down from her thoughts and she looked back up to see Hanabi giving her a concerned look.

Hinata gave Hanabi a slight smile and quietly said, "I can't think of any other word for it…so I guess so."

Hanabi continued to look at Hinata, then relaxed her face and sighed. "I know it's none of my business, but I think it will only get worse if you don't get out of here and fix things up with him."

By fixing, do you mean thrusting a knife through his heart?

Hinata mentally slapped herself for making the horrendous thought, and nodded. "I suppose you're right…" but then her thoughts went back to her secret mission as the memory of the meeting played out in her head once more.

"_You're going to need to kill Neji-kun."_

…

"_After all, he did attempt to kill you once before, and he never held back in making his hatred known."_

…

"_I know he will not. Because…because Neji-niisan loves me."_

…

"_Believe me; he does not act like a person in love. But you, Hinata-sama…you however, are."_

Fresh tears began to brew in Hinata's eyes, and she turned to Hanabi, "I'm sorry…I need to be alone for just a little while longer. I need to think…"

Hanabi slowly nodded, understanding. "I just hate seeing you like this, you know?" she murmured, "You're already going through enough pain with father's death," and with that, she took her arms and pushed herself off the bed. Standing up straight and making her way over to the door, Hanabi took a last glance at Hinata and said, "See you later…I'm going to be in the Land of Waves for a couple of weeks," before opening the door, stepping out, and softly closing it behind her.

* * *

About half an hour later, Hinata was still hugging her legs on top of her bed. Only this time her mind was not consumed by the thoughts of killing her cousin, but of the words Hon spoke to her sometime in the middle of that meeting…

"_You, Hinata-sama…you however, are."_

It was only the musings of a man who wanted Hinata to kill her dear cousin, but…those words still bothered her. Did it really seem like she, herself, was in love with Neji? Hinata thought that it seemed like she was concerned for killing someone close to her; anyone would act like that, right? She was only doing what anyone else would do, _not_ want to kill him.

Even so, why were Hon's words _bothering_ her so much?

_Because I do not feel that way about Neji-niisan,_ Hinata answered herself.

_Well then, what's stopping you from loving him?_ A new voice suddenly chimed in.

_Because,_ Hinata replied, _our past is not exactly...composed of happy-filled times. _

_But despite that,_ the new voice continued, _Neji-niisan loves you. And you told him that you love him back._

"I should never have said that…" Hinata moaned as she fell backwards onto her pillow and began morosely staring off at the ceiling.

…_Is it Naruto?_ The voice asked.

The name of that man made Hinata's eyes widen and her mouth slightly open. Truth be told, she has not thought about him once all week, and remembering her crush on the boy brought her back down to where she was in the outside world.

"…I…"

_Well, you never told yourself that you were in love with him, either. You just accepted your gargantuan crush toward him. You know, most girls your age are more than happy to admit their feelings of love to a man, except you. Why is that?_

"It's…b-_because_ that everyone my age is doing it…" Hinata whispered to herself. "I am always watching as my friends declare that they are in love, after such little time with a man. And then…it seems like in no time at all they get their hearts broken, or they break up…Then they laugh and say, 'I guess I did not know what love was after all.' So I always thought, 'When I am ready to admit my love, how will I know that it's _really_ love?' Not just some spur-of-the-moment feeling…? And here I am now, I've felt this way about Naruto for such a long time, but I never have about Neji-niisan…I think I'm just confused because he loves me, and I don't know what to do now…because no one has ever felt that way about me."

The voice was silent for a moment, as if thinking. Then, _You do have a point,_ it began, _that a lot of people don't really know if they're in love or not. At the same time, Naruto has never shown any interest in you, only Sakura, and I don't think you deserve to waste your life waiting for something that will never happen. _

Even though it was coming from her own sub consciousness, it still hurt for Hinata to hear that.

"S…so, what are you saying?" she sighed quietly, "That I need to cut off all feelings for Naruto-kun and continue my act of loving Neji-niisan…?"

_Who said you needed to act? _Hinata could practically hear the voice giving a devious grin.

"…All right, I'm done talking to you," Hinata gave an exasperated sigh as she got herself off the bed and stood in the middle of her room.

She guessed it was about time she went and talked to Neji.

* * *

One week to the day since Neji had received his assassination orders from the Elders. He could still feel the shock on his face as the impatient old men spouted their details of the mission, and the irritableness in their voices as Neji questioned their orders.

"_Why? Because it is necessary, that's why. You would be wise not to talk back to us," Ban snapped at him. "It is a completely top secret mission that has such a needed confidential that not even you are permitted to know the details. No, not even the assassin," Ban angrily growled in response to the questioning look Neji gave him. "You have a month to complete this. We want it done swiftly and without any mess. We would also like it if you could bring as little attention as possible to killing her. Stop giving me those looks, Neji-kun," the old man spat, "you should be grateful that you get to kill the girl without any punishment. Since you already attempted to once before, anyways." _

It was that last sentence that made it hard for Neji not to let his irritation and confusion overcome him. These old men tell Neji to seduce his cousin, and then the next day kill her? Not to mention the fact that she was also a few months short of becoming the next Hyūga Head. If she were to die, then Hanabi was next in line. But she was not about to come of age any time soon, that would only leave the Hyūga family more vulnerable for an even longer time.

Neji had already made his decision before he even left the meeting room.

He will not kill Hinata Hyūga.

Instead, he chose to just waste the month away and lay low, avoiding any attention to be brought upon himself. That also included meeting the woman in question excessively. Neji was expecting to see her a couple of more times during the duration, but for the past week he had not seen her at all. It was extremely confusing at first—why was a woman in love suddenly avoiding the man she loved? At first Neji thought that she was still sorting out her feelings of Naruto, but no, she told him so herself; she had always been in love with Neji. It was a couple of days after they stopped seeing one another that Hanabi confronted Neji and told him that Hinata had conceived some sort of highly contagious sickness and would be resting in confinement until further notice. To be honest, Neji was relieved to hear that news, for he would not have to look at her innocent face and remember that she was wanted dead.

Going back to the plan to lay low—Neji had already understood what he was getting himself in to. Ignoring the orders of the Elders, ignoring such a secret mission, would ultimately lead to the activation of his curse seal and he would be executed. After coming under the realization that Neji was willing to sacrifice himself to save Hinata another month of living, he stopped and began to think. Suppose that he wasted the month away and he was killed for it. What happens then? Hinata becomes vulnerable. There would be nothing to stop the Elders from killing her then and there. Neji could not afford to die. Now he was faced with a dilemma. Hinata cannot die, but neither can Neji. But as it looked, one of them was going to at some point. What solution would best fit this problem?

Run the hell away.

It would only be a temporary absence, though. For the next few months, at the very least. Neji was thinking that he would take Hinata and go stay in the Village of Sand until she became eighteen and finally held authority over the whole family. Then they would return and, if Neji had it his way, Hinata would exile the new Elders from the family. Then life would go back to normal.

There was only one problem with this solution.

Neji and Hinata were still 'in love.' And Neji was just about to propose an idea of leaving the manor and hiding away in another village. Together.

The man drew his palm to his face as he remembered the last little tid-bit. But really, was there any other way to solve this problem without making a bloody mess out of it? He knew that if she had loved him for such a long time, then Hinata would most likely want to…show it. Would he just have to turn her down and explain that they're running away for their lives? With a sigh, Neji decided to move those thoughts to the back of his head and let time tell.

_Well, you did almost kiss her,_ a voice chimed in.

"…It was spur-of-the-moment," Neji muttered as he closed the door to his room and went over to sit down on his bed, "we were on a 'date' so I thought that it was called for."

_Suit yourself,_ the voice replied.

"Still…" Neji mused to himself as he slid his head down the palms of his hands, "If we're going to leave, then we need to leave soon…I don't know if I'll be able to wait until her sickness is over—"

His thoughts were then interrupted by a quiet knocking at the door. Wondering who it could be, Neji rose from his bed and made his way over to the door. He opened it slowly, and saw Hinata's face looking back at him with a concerning look.

"H-Hinata-sama!" he opened the door wider to reveal her entirety and asked, "What are you doing here? Have you recovered?"

Hinata was apparently not expecting that question, "Eh…what?"

"Your sister," Neji said, "she told me that you were sick for the past week."

The woman's eyes widened for a second before reverting back to normal. _Hanabi told him that…? Was that why he has not visited me? Then…why did sister also tell me how reserved he has been?_

"I…I wanted to talk with you…" her gaze dropped to her toying fingers as she slowly realized that she really did not _have_ anything to talk about with Neji. Oh, hello there, lovely day we're having. I say, would you fancy a slash to the throat?

Neji blinked. "Oh, all right, come in then." He moved to the side and allowed Hinata to walk past him. She stepped inside and set herself in the middle of the room.

"To tell you the truth," Neji said as he closed the door and followed Hinata, "I also have something to tell you. But you go first."

"Well…" Hinata started, but really, she had no idea where she was going with this. She guessed that she just had enough of being in her room with only her memories and her sub consciousness keeping her company. No, really, why did she come here? _Why?_

…

_Because…I wanted to see Neji-niisan…_Hinata admitted to herself.

_So why don't you tell _him_ that? _The voice of reason piped up.

For once, Hinata did not argue with the voice.

"I…I just wanted to…see you, Neji-niisan," her pink cheeks became dashed with red and her gaze lowered all the way down to her feet. For a moment she waited to hear Neji's response. She was hoping to hear him say that he understood, because they loved each other. Then perhaps they could talk with each other, like old times…only this time Hinata had the troubles of her new mission hanging over her head. Even so, she could not help but desire something…

But the moments of Neji's silence flew by, and Hinata allowed herself to lift her head up and look at Neji quizzically, "Neji…niisan…?"

"_I just wanted to see you, Neji-niisan."_ The soft words repeated themselves in Neji's mind. His eyes widened slightly as he watched Hinata shyly toy with her fingers. Something had overcome him all of the sudden. He was not thinking about the danger Hinata was in, he was not thinking about the awkwardness of the moment, he was not even thinking about his feign love toward her. To be honest, it was the same feeling he had the moment before he kissed Hinata's forehead all those days ago. Did the situation call for it? Was it spur-of-the-moment? Neji did not know. For the moment, he ceased all rational thinking and concentrated on the feeling and what it was calling for.

Slowly, and ever so quietly, he lifted his hand up and softly touched the area between Hinata's left ear and cheekbone with the tips of his fingers. He then paused and waited for Hinata to react.

"…Eh?" her attention suddenly went from the floor to the soft tickles she felt at the side of her head. She looked to the left and saw the rest of Neji's arm leading back to his shoulder. Her eyes then traveled up from the shoulders to the neck, and from the neck to the head. _His face…_To be honest, Neji's expression did not look any different than normal, but there was an unusual _air_ emitting from it. One of…compassion? Or was it longing? She could not tell, but her eyes softened in response to his expression.

Also slowly, she lifted her own hand up and reached in to touch the top of Neji's hand. A bonus to the gesture was a whole new shade of red never before seen on her face. She breathed out a half laugh, half sigh as her viewpoint went back to the floor in embarrassment. Nonetheless, she did not put her hand back down.

As Hinata did so, the rest of Neji's hand encompassed the entirety of Hinata's left cheekbone. Then his other arm reached out and he took in the right side of Hinata's face. She could feel the tips of his fingers grip slightly tighter as she looked back up into his face. The girl could hear that his breathing was shaking faintly, as if he was working hard to keep it under control.

"Neji…" she breathed, but before she could add on the honorific, the man in question took a small step closer before leaning his head over hers…and softly pressing his lips to Hinata's.

Both of their eyes were open, but only slightly. Hinata was not really looking into her cousin's face anyway; instead focusing on the wall behind his shoulder as she tried to comprehend what exactly she was doing.

It was soft—almost _too_ soft—she always imagined that it would be so from reading novels and the anecdotes of her friends. What she was not expecting was the wetness. It was a strange thing; she used to constantly daydream of first dates and kisses and always placed it as something so magical and soft, yet she never made the connection that two mouths together also had spit. At first it made her rather uncomfortable—tasting spit that came from someone else's mouth—but Hinata figured that now was not the best time to think about it.

Another thing that caught her off guard was the difference in mouth and lip sizes. In the paintings and novels, a couple would kiss and it just seemed like their lips would fit into each other like a puzzle. Not so in this case. Hinata's petite mouth was much smaller than Neji's broad chin and handsome lips, and to Hinata, it felt like his whole mouth was completely encompassing hers. Neji also had a certain smell to him, like everyone has. At this moment though, the smell seemed to be everywhere. It was not a bad smell, not bad at all, but it was the first time Hinata was able to sense so much of it…as if he was everywhere around her.

It was a first kiss though…Hinata needn't complain about it. The only thing she wanted to improve on was what to do with her damn right arm, as it hung by her side uselessly.

Eventually, they both quietly broke apart. At first Neji was not sure of what he did, but after a second of silence he gave her a slight smile.

Then, "Hinata-sama, I need to tell you something too."

Her cheeks could not possibly grow any more red at this point, so instead the blush spread around her whole face, taking up her ears and forehead. "Y-Yes?"

"…Wait," he paused, took his left hand off her cheek, and began looking around the room. In a house where everything could be seen through with these eyes, it was possible that someone could be eavesdropping.

When he did not detect anyone, Neji turned back to Hinata and said, "…Let's have dinner tomorrow night. Out on the hills beyond the manor. It'll be a date." He uttered the last words without missing a beat.

Hinata's eyes widened and she gave him a large smile. "O…okay!"

They both then gave each other their best smile, wondering what to expect from this newly scheduled date.

**To be continued...**

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**Summary:** So now Hinata's gone apeshit in the emo-meter and locked herself away with her only company being a voice coming from her head that for some reason kicks ass. "Y DON'T U LOEV NEJI!?" it asked, and Hinata replied "BECUZ I LOEV NARUTO, REMEMBER? I already confessed to him back in chapter 347, right before I took the leap of faith into the epic failure of a villan known as Pein/Nagatoh! it iz canon nao!" "FUCK CANON THIS IS NEJIHINA." the voice screeched, and suddenly Hinata knew the meaning of life and went to go make out with Neji. OH, AND MAKE OUT THEY DID. "COME OVER HERE YOU SEXY SEXY MAN" Hinata shouted before grabbing Neji by the collar and giving him the perfect first kiss EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO SPIT AT ALL. And Neji wooed "WOH HOT MAMA" before saying "OK THEN, LET'S GO ON A HOT DATE, YOU AND ME BABY, THE HILLS, I'LL BRING THE CANDLES, YOU BRING THE SEX." **To be continued...**


	5. kokoro no amikohime

**Note:** THIS WAS AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE MMM'KAY. I'll probably remove this and put it somewhere else once I upload the final chapter. But yeah. This nonsense was all me.

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konnichiwa! ok so heres the deal. my name is shiro no kitsune-hime (that means white fox princess 2 those unfortunete ppl that dont kno NIHONGO, that means JAPANESE) i dont have an acount here yet but i will soon. my older sister "Crimson Cataclysm" (wtf is a cataclysm anyway)has quit making fanfics foerver. shes busy with college and says shes tired of righting fanfics. snice she knows i want to rite fanfics to she said "u can finish my current fics if u want 2" i was soooo exited until i saw that she rote NEJIHINA! WTF? doesnt she kno that there COUSINS! wouldnt they make deformed retarded babies! that is just SOOOO SIIICCK! lol my sister is such a sickoooooo!1 anyway, thats ok now cuz this is MY fanfic now. ill make sure this fic gets the RITE pairings and the RITE ending. and here to celabrate with me iiiisssss.....NEJI-SAMA!

nejisama: oh my kami (that means god in nihongo)

me: muahahaha! you cannot escape!

nejisams: please get away from me you weirdo! im tired of being forced to have SEX with HINATA-HIME she is my COUSIN!

me: uhhhh thats my neechan crimsons falt. she thinks u 2 are cute 2gether. but shes given up fanfics forever(good thing 2 she rights DISCUSTING THINGS!) so im going 2 finish this story THE RIGHT WAY!

nejisama: honto? (that means really?)

me: hai! (yes)

nejisama: oh kami ARIGATO! (THANK YOU) were free at last!

me: hoorayy! ok so lets get this party started!

disclaimer: i do NOT own the greatest anime series ever, NARUTO! if it were mine than HINATA-SAMA would be the main character!

btw: this, as i said earlier, i smy VERY FIRST fanfic, EVER. so GO EASY ON ME, OK? i worked on this for like a whooole week. AND im taking 8th grade math when im only in 7th, so i dont have nearly as much riting time as every1 else does. so dontbe like wow u suck dont rite ever again, because that would just make u a hating retard that cant appreciate som1s hard work. if u do, than i will delete ur review AND block u. this doesnt belong to neechan anymore, its MINE. so 2 all u sick cousin kissing haters out there, GET USED TO IT! and dont worry i will use correct grammer in my story this is just how i type in my authors notes lol.

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Kokoro no Amiko (an: Amiko's Heart...u will kno who she is soon!)

It was the day after Neji-sama kissed Hinata-sama, and he was feeling very very sick about it. "Why did I kiss Hinata-sama? Oh right because it was a part of my mission, now I just have to kill her thank kami." he said to himself. Indeed it was because. Neji-sama was never in love with Hinata-sama he's just a really good actor in his missions. However he didn't know if Hinata was really acting back or not since he didn't know she had a mission to kill him too, but he wasn't worry about it since he was going to kill her soon, so her weird crush on him would go away along with her dead body. "Oh hey that reminds me" he said out loud to himself "I need to go training with my uncle Hyuuga-sama today it's been awhile since I trained with him. Hehehehe" he chuckled "I bet I'm stornger then him now and then I'LL become the Hyuuga Head when he finally sees that I'm better then everyone else!" and with that he ran off to the direction of the training grounds expecting to see his uncle waiting for him there.

Meanwhile Hinata-sama was sitting on her bed throwing up into a bucket. "Bleeeeeehhhh!" she retched "w-w-w-w-why d-d-did I k-k-k-k-kiss....N-N-N-N-NEJI-SAMA!" she screamed before throwing her head back down and puking some more chunks of food into the bucket (an: ahahaha ewww THATS WHAT U GET 4 BEING INCEST) than the door knocked and her neechan Hanabi-san stepped in. "Hinata-sama why are you so sick? You've been throwing up for hours!" her neesama looked up at her with green face. "G-g-g-g-gomen nesai (an: that means im sorry in u guessed it...NIHONGO!) n-n-n-neechan, I c-c-can't t-t-t-t-t-t-t-tell you!" Hanabi-san shrugged and said "Well you need to take a tylenol or something because we are having a guest for dinner tonight." "H-Honto? W-W-Who is it?" Hanabi-san responded "I don' know yet but it's someone that's been away for awhile so get ready ok?" "H-Hai, a-a-arigato neechan." Hinata-sama said before puking just a little bit more into the bucket. Than Hanabi-san left and Hinata-sama took tylenol and started getting ready for the big dinner.

Neji-sama ran into the training grounds with his kunai knives in his hands. He jumped up screaming "HYUUGA-SAMA!" and crashed down to the ground kicking up a bunch of sand so the jiisan (an: that means old man) couldn't see where his nephew was. "Neji-sama what is the meaning of this aristocracy!" he yelled out before doging Neji-sama's kunai knife (he could see where Neji-sama was even though there was sand because that's what happens when you have the byakugan) "Haha jiisan! You are too old to rule the Hyuuga clan anymore, our battle will show that I WILL RULE!" Neji-sama yelled out with confidant. Hyuuga-sama got a twitchy vein on his head and screamed "You baka (an: idiot) we are not training today WE HAVE GUEST FOR DINNER!" it was than when Neji-sama finally stopped battling his uncle and gave a confused expression. "Not training today for some baja guest! Who cares! I need to show you that I'm stronger then you!" he bellowed. But Hyuuga-sama didn't listen and started dragging Neji-sama over to the dining room. "You haven't seen this person in YEARS so I would think you would be happy to see that person." was his explanation.

The dining room was soon filled with Hyuuga-sama, Hanabi-sama, Hinata-sama, and Neji-sama. Neji-sama looked around and said "Nani desuka! (an: what is this?) There is no guest here!" Hyuuga-sama gave him a look and said "be patient, our guest is traveling through desserts and will be very tired when she arrives." "SHE!" Neji-sama yelled "I'm wasting time that I could be beating you to eat dinner with a GIRL?" "Ah but it is WHO this girl is that's important" Hyuuga-sama smiled as he said this. "Oh look, she is here now, come on Amiko-hime! Dinner is ready!"

It was then when Neji-sama and Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama all turned around to see a very pretty kunoichi (an: female ninja). She had long white hair and dark black eyes that you could barely see because her bangs almost covered them. She was also wearing blue ninja suits with a konoha headband wrapped around her arm.

"Amiko-hime? Who the hell are you?" Neji-sama demanded.

The girl looked at Neji-sama and gave him a glare. "I'm sad that you do not remember me, Neji-sama. Is it not you who I am to marry?"

It was then when Neji-sama fell to the floor anime style. "MARRY! SINCE WHEN DO I HAVE A WIFE!" he screamed at her.

Amiko-hime sighed. "Then I guess you really do not remember me..." she walked over and sat down at the seat next to Neji-sama. "Well then I guess I will start at the very beginning, ne? I am a princess from a cold country up north, but evil ninjas from the land of sand came and killed my whole family and took over the land. Only me and my caretaker escaped and he brought me here. We ran into your family and they saw great potential in me and my caretaker said he would give me to your family and you would raise me to be as great a kunoichi as the best, he did that to make sure I would grow up healthy and strong, and your family agreed. Then I met you and we played together when we were very little. Hyuuga-sama saw us playing together and said that one day we would be married so that I would become an official Hyuuga and maybe your superior blood and my mysterious powers would merge to create the ultimate powerful Hyuuga babies. But we couldn't discover my real power in this green land so a Hyuuga took me back to the outlands of my country so I could train for many years and come back to finally marry you. And that is my story." Amiko-hime breathed in after saying the whole story.

Neji-sama burst out laughing "And you expect me to just marry you? No way in hell!"

Amiko-hime looked sad "I'm sure if we play together like old times then you would remember how we are meant to be..."

"NO!" Neji-sama bellowed before throwing his chair and leaving the room in anger.

Hinata-sama then got up and walked over to Amiko-sama "A-A-A-A-Ano (an: um) g-g-gomenesai that m-m-my cousin h-h-hates you...i-i-if it m-makes you f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-feel any b-b-b-b-better, I w-w-w-would like t-t-t-to be you're f-f-friend..."

Amiko-hime's eyes sparkled under her pure white hair and her smile grew as she heard upon those words. "Honto ne desuka? (an: is that true?) Yokkata! (an: thank goodness!) Why don't we go out to eat at a restaraunt?" Hinata-sama nodded and said "Hai." "Hey, you didn't stammer!" Amiko-hime pointed out. Hinata-sama gasped. "I-I guess i-i-it's b-bceause you're s-s-so n-nice..." Amiko-sama blushed "Oh don't say that." and they left together leaving Hyuuga-sama and Hanabi-san alone at the table to eat their diner.

Neji-sama was at the training grounds punching a punching bag really hard so much that it was ripping up. Neji-sama didn't care, he was too busy angering at Amiko-hime. "THAT DAMN BAKA! I'M NOT MARRYING SOME FOREIGNER I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER FROM MY CHILDHOOD! I REFUSE TO MARRY THAT BAJA!" and continued punching as Hinata-sama and Amiko-hime went to a restaraunt.

"This place looks like a good place to eat feasts." Amoki-hime said pointing to Ichiraku's ramen stand. Hinata-sama glanced at her nervously. "A-a-a-ano, d-d-d-do we really w-want to eat h-h-h-here?" Amiko-hime looked at Hinata-sama with confusing. "Hinata-sama you're stammering again is there something wrong? Oh well let's go in!" and she ran on in with Hinata-sama following her. Inside of there was.............NARUTO!

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what did u think! lol this is just the first instalment of many 2 come. my first goal is to finish this story (and make it RITE instead of this cousin SICKNESS) and tan start righting my very OWN storyes! please tell me how much u liked this chapter, but dont be a mean snob OK!

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EDIT: Well the day has passed. If you didn't notice before, I uploaded this chapter on April Fool's Day. I don't have a sister. I wrote this entire 12 year old noobishness in all its glory. ;D The ONLY thing that's true about this entire post was that I have indeed been busy as hell with college. Add a failing relationship into the mix and you've taken away any hope of me getting into a romance writing mood for the next forever. :x Haha. But I've never intended to "giv up righting fanfics 4evr." Even if it takes YEARS for me to upload that last damn chapter, you can bet your ass I'll do it. I know it's hard to be patient, but thank you for doing so despite it. I love you guys. ;3;


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